If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:24:45 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month are:
Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!
A monthly podcast devoted mostly to speculative fiction books, reviews and the odd bit of idle gossip. Hosted by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond.
Episodes
Thursday Oct 19, 2017
Thursday Oct 19, 2017
On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, start off with a brief but somewhat sad announcement before moving straight into a discussion of this month's books: Confessions by Kanae Minato [4:45] and White Tears by Hari Kunzru [42:00].
If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:17:10 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month's are two debut novels:
Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!
Monday Sep 25, 2017
Monday Sep 25, 2017
On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin with an admission: Ian was wrong! He got the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize wrong! He got the longlist for the National Book Award wrong! What is he even doing talking about literature at all? Nevertheless, the two books on the slab this month remain The Fisherman by John Langan [9:00] and By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente [42:25].
If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:12:25 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion next month's are two horror/dark novels:
Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!
Thursday Aug 17, 2017
Thursday Aug 17, 2017
This month on The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin by announcing the two patron-voted books which will be featured in the upcoming Patron's Choice episode in September. There is also some discussion of the recently announced Man Booker longlist because IAN WAS RIGHT and both the novels featured THIS month are on the list! Those novel are of course The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead [11:30] and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid [1:01:00].
For readers interested in spec-fic-skewed novels in a similar vein, Ian highly recommends the following:
- Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
- The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
- The Fractured Europe Sequence by Dave Hutchinson
If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:47:40 for brief final remarks. The books up for discussion on next month's Patron's Choice episode are:
Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!
Thursday Jul 27, 2017
Thursday Jul 27, 2017
On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, announce the list of nominated books for the upcoming Patron's Choice episode in September. If you're a Patron with voting rights, get thee to the Patreon website to access the poll and choose which book you'd like them to discuss. The two books on the slab this month are two Finnish novels, City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta [13:40] and Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff [43:35]. There is some relatively spoiler-free discussion about the similarities between the two beginning at [7:30].
For those listeners who would like to follow up on some things mentioned in the podcast:
Thursday Jun 29, 2017
Thursday Jun 29, 2017
On this episode of The Writer and the Critic your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin with a brief chat about the recent Continuum 13 convention and highly recommend their listeners check out the fabulous Guest of Honour speeches which are now available for viewing online:
They then move on to discuss the two featured books for this month: Hurricane Heels by Isabel Yap [7:10] and Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Charles Tan [41:40].
Listeners might also like to read the following related articles/interviews:
- Hurricane Heels: How It Happened by Isabel Yap
- Diversity Beyond Borders: A Conversation with Charles Tan
If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:27:45 for final remarks. Also, the annual Patron's Choice episode is coming up in a couple of months, so please check out the Patreon website to see if you are eligible to nominate books for The Writer and the Critic to discuss. Next month, Kirstyn and Ian will be looking at two Finnish novels:
Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!